Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award


The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award is an award created in honor of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards were established by Christie Hefner in 1979 to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effort to protect and enhance First Amendment rights for Americans. Since the inception of the awards, more than 100 individuals including high school students, lawyers, librarians, journalists and educators have been honored.
Nominees have traditionally come from the areas of journalism, arts and entertainment, education, publishing, law, and government, and winners are selected by a panel of distinguished judges.

Recipients

1980

  • Nat Hentoff - Book Publishing
  • Erwin Knoll and Howard Morland - Journalism
  • Saul Landau and Jack Willis - Journalism
  • David Goldberger - Law
  • - Government
  • Carey McWilliams - Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Tom Bradley, Mayor of Los Angeles; Jules Feiffer, playwright and social cartoonist; Fay Kanin, president, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Victor Navasky, editor, The Nation; and Tom Wicker, columnist and associate editor, The New York Times.

1981

  • Frank Rowe - Book Publishing
  • Todd Crowder, Charles Reineke and William Hoffmann Jr. - Journalism
  • Edward Asner, Allan Burns, Seth Freeman, and Gene Reynolds - Arts and Entertainment
  • William Schannen III - Law
  • Morton Halperin - Government
  • Kathy Russell - Education
  • Stanley Fleishman - Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Edward Brooke, US Senator, Massachusetts; Nat Hentoff, author and columnist, The Village Voice; Fay Kanin, president, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Judith Krug, director, The American Library Association; and Charles Nesson, Dean, Harvard Law School.

1982

  • Franklyn S. Haiman - Book Publishing
  • Gene D. Lanier - Education
  • Billie Pirner Garde - Government
  • Frank Snepp - Individual Conscience
  • Steven Pico - Law
  • Robert Berger, Herbert Brodkin, Ernest Kinoy and Herbert Wise - Arts and Entertainment
  • Melody Sands - Journalism
  • Frank J. Donner - Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Yvonne Braithwaite Burke, partner, Kutak, Rode & Huie; Hamilton Fish III, Publisher, The Nation; Florence McMullin, Chair, The Washington Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee; and Aryeh Neier, Professor of Law, New York University.

1983

  • Tom Gish and Pat Gish - Outstanding Community Leadership
  • Mark Lynch - Outstanding National Leadership
  • Osmond K. Fraenkel - Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Harriet Pilpel, attorney, Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Studs Terkel, author and nationally syndicated radio show host; and William Worthy, international journalist and civil liberties activist.

1984

  • Helen Troy and Forest Troy - Outstanding Community Leadership
  • Agnus Mackenzie - Outstanding National Leadership
  • Frank Wilkinson - Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Martin Agronsky, Agronsky and Company; Alan Dershowitz, professor, Harvard Law School; and Liza Pike, Program Director, Center for Investigative Reporting.

1985

  • Clifford McKenzie - Government
  • Jack C. Landau - Education
  • Ronnie Dugger - Journalism
The judges were Burton Joseph, attorney, Barsy, Joseph & Lichtenstein; Harriet Pilpel, attorney, Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and Melody Sands, former owner of The Athens News.

1986-1987

  • Barry Lynn - Government
  • Glenna Nowell - Education
  • Walter Karp - Book Publishing
  • Charles Levendosky - Journalism
  • William A. Bradford, Jr., Ricki Seidman, and Mary Weidler - Law
The judges were Julius L. Chambers, president, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Maxwell Lillienstein, General Counsel, American Booksellers Association; and Anthony Podesta, founding president, People for the American Way.

1988

  • Jamie Kalven - Book Publishing
  • Herbert Foerstel - Education
  • Rex Armstrong - Law
  • Eric Robert Glitzenstein - Government
  • David Arnett - Journalism
  • Roy Woodruff - Individual Conscience
The judges were Charlayne Hunter-Gault, New York correspondent, The MacNeil / Lehrer NewsHour; Anthony Lewis, syndicated columnist, The New York Times; Steven Pico, First Amendment lecturer and advocate; and Tom Wicker, political columnist, The New York Times.

1989

  • Eve Pell - Journalism
  • James A. Haught - Journalism
  • Thomas Michael Devine - Government
  • Joann Bell - Law
  • John Henry Faulk - Individual Conscience
  • Louis Ingelhart - Education
  • Anthony Lewis - Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Judith Krug, director, the American Library Association for Intellectual Freedom; Jack K. Landau, attorney and columnist, Newhouse Newspapers; Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, Chicago Tribune; and Harriet Pilpel, attorney, Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

1990

  • Paul Conrad - Journalism
  • Marilyn Athmann - Education
  • Danny Goldberg - Arts and Entertainment
  • Hans A. Linde - Law
  • Dennis Barrie - Individual Conscience
  • Studs Terkel - Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Herbert N. Foerstel, Head of Branch Libraries, University of Maryland; Robert Scheer, national correspondent, Los Angeles Times; and Maxine Waters, US Representative, California.

1991

  • Allan Adler - Book Publishing
  • Inez Austin - Individual Conscience
  • Traci Bauer - Law
  • James Dana - Education
  • Bella Lewitzky - Arts and Entertainment
  • Debbie Nathan - Journalism
  • Sydney Schanberg - Government
The judges were Arthur Kropp, president, People for the American Way; Barry Lynn, Co-host, Battleline news radio talk show; Eve Pell, investigative journalist, Freedom of Information Project; and Tom Wicker, political columnist, The New York Times.

1992

  • Jules Feiffer - Individual Conscience
  • Bruce Rogow - Law
  • Natalie Robins - Book Publishing
  • Carl Jensen - Education
  • Dannie Martin - Journalism
  • Peter Sussman - Journalism
The judges were Dennis Barrie, executive director, Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati; Norman Dorsen, Stokes Professor of Law, New York University Law School; Mark Goodman, executive director, Student Press Law Center; Barbara Kopple, documentary filmmaker; and Reginald Stuart, Assistant News Editor, Knight-Ridder Newspapers.

1993-1994

  • Anthony Griffin - Law
  • Robert Landauer - Print Journalism
  • Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon - Book Publishing
  • Carole Marlowe - Education
  • Jim Warren - Government
  • Jean Otto - Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Rex Armstrong, Attorney and Volunteer Counsel, ACLU of Oregon; Jessica Mitford, author and social activist; and Carl Jensen, Founder, Project Censored.

1995-1996

  • Jeffrey DeBonis - Government
  • Joycelyn Chadwick-Joshua - Education
  • Seth Rosenfeld - Print Journalism
  • Mary Morello - Arts and Entertainment
  • Tom Hull - Law
  • Morton Mintz - Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Chris Finan, executive director, The Media Coalition; Marjorie Heins, Director and Staff Counsel, ACLU Arts Censorship Project; and Sydney Schanberg, journalist.

1997

  • Dr. Frederic Whitehurst - Government
  • Kelli Peterson - Individual Conscience
  • Katharine Swan - Journalism
  • Cecile Richards - Education
  • American Civil Liberties Union - Law
  • American Library Association - Law
The judges were Anthony Griffin, attorney; Bobby Handman, president, People for the American Way; and Burton Joseph, attorney, Barsy, Joseph & Lichtenstein.

1998

  • Lee Brawner - Education
  • Tisha Byars - Individual Conscience
  • Goodloe Sutton and Jean Sutton - Journalism
The judges were Nadine Strossen, president, ACLU; Peter S. Prichard, president, Freedom Forum; and Ann K. Symons, president, American Library Association.

1999

  • Michael Moore - Arts and Entertainment
  • Eugenie C. Scott - Education
  • Nicholas Becker - Individual Conscience
  • Jeri McGiverin & Elaine Williamson - Law
  • Donald Parker - Lifetime Achievement
  • Bruce Sanford - Book Publishing
The judges were Mark Goodman, executive director, Student Press Law Center; Molly Ivins, author and columnist, Creators Syndicate; Barbara Kopple, filmmaker; and Clarence Page, columnist, Chicago Tribune.

2000-2001

  • Michael Kent Curtis - Book Publishing
  • Mary Dana - Education
  • Nancy Zennie - Education
  • William M. Lawbaugh - Print Journalism
  • James Wheaton - Law
  • John Seigenthaler - Lifetime Achievement
  • Penn & Teller - Arts and Entertainment
The judges were Floyd Abrams, partner, Cahill Gordon & Reindel; Lucy Dalglish; executive director, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; Robert M. O'Neil, director, Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression; and Nadine Strossen, president, ACLU.

2002-2003

The judges were Margaret Carlson, CNN's The Capital Gang and Time Magazine columnist; Ann Richards, former governor of Texas; and John Seigenthaler, Founder, First Amendment Center.